One of the biggest questions facing the Phillies this offseason focuses on what position superstar slugger Bryce Harper will play in 2024. The 2024 campaign figures to be Harper’s first full campaign in the field since 2021, as Harper battled a partially torn UCL in 2022 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. That limited Harper to playing DH primarily in both 2022 and 2023, though Harper was able to move to first base late in the 2023 season, filling a hole left by Rhys Hoskins’s ACL injury during spring training. A decision on Harper’s position next year is expected to come in the near future, as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski indicated to reporters (including Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer) that Harper’s preferred position will be taken into consideration when building the team’s 2024 roster.
With Harper at first base in recent months, the Phillies have been able to use Kyle Schwarber at DH while playing both Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas in the outfield to improve the club’s outfield defense. If Harper were to return to his native right field in 2024, that would seemingly leave Nick Castellanos to move over to left field, with Marsh and Rojas platooning in center. Speculatively speaking, that could open the door for the club to resign Hoskins in free agency or look into other potential first base bats like Brandon Belt and Jeimer Candelario. On the other hand, if Harper plays first base primarily next season, the club could look to add an additional outfielder such as Teoscar Hernandez, Adam Duvall, or Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to deepen their outfield group.
More from around the NL East…
- David O’Brien of The Athletic recently discussed the future of the Braves rotation, which in part hinges upon the decisions made regarding veteran righty Charlie Morton. It’s as of yet unclear if the 40-year-old hurler intends to continue playing in 2024, and separately it’s an open question whether or not the Braves will exercise a $20MM club option for his services in 2024 or allow him to hit the open market. With Kyle Wright out of commission until 2025 due to shoulder surgery, parting ways with Morton would leave only Spencer Strider, Max Fried, and Bryce Elder locked into rotation spots headed into the 2024 season. O’Brien makes it clear that righty AJ Smith-Shawver is part of the club’s future plans in some capacity, noting the Braves informed teams that Smith-Shawver was “all but untouchable.” Still, even if the club plans to utilizie Elder and Smith-Shawver at the back of the rotation in 2024, they would likely need to replace Morton externally with a veteran arm rather than relying on youngsters like Darius Vines, Dylan Dodd, and Jared Shuster, all of whom may be better suited for depth roles.
- SNY’s Danny Abriano recently discussed the options the Mets have at their disposal at third base for the 2024 season. While the third base market features interesting names such as Candelario and top option Matt Chapman, Abriano suggests that the club should stick to its internal options at the hot corner for the 2024 campaign. Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio would appear to be the club’s top contenders for the everyday third base job internally. Baty struggled badly with a .212/.275/.323 slash line in 389 trips to the plate in the majors this year, though his pedigree as a consensus top-30 prospect and his phenomenal minor league numbers suggest the 23-year-old could take the next step in 2024. Mauricio, meanwhile, also struggled at the plate (.248/.296/.347 in 108 plate appearances) and is widely regarded as having a lower offensive ceiling than Baty, but brings quality defense and baserunning to the table when compared to Baty’s defensive miscues at the position. Another factor for the Mets could be top infield prospect Luisangel Acuna, who Abriano suggests will eventually take over second base, which could free up Jeff McNeil to move to third if Baty and Mauricio both struggle in the early parts of the 2024 season.
Braves should ask the declining Morton if he’s willing to take $12M, and just decline the option if he isn’t.
Why would he do that when LA can sign him for 20 MM
Geography, that’s why. $12M? I’m not Team Charlie but a 40% paycut is a slap in the face. He has had no buyout and agreed to albeit high, but year to year deals. The no buyout has already saved them millions.
I’d let someone slap my face for $12M.
Morton isn’t worth 20 at this point in his career. Maybe 15 if you want to add some sentimental value.
Charlie was worth more than $20 mil this season.
I agree on $15M, but if he doesn’t, you can’t get a decent SP3 for $15M on the open market. Elder should not be a 3.
He started 30 games, had a 122 ERA+ and over three rWAR. On a one year deal, he could get $25MM.
He’s definitely worth 20M or more. I hope you’re right and the Braves foolishly agree with you.
Bryce is a choke artist, based on Phillies “fans” own carefully laid out criteria which were definitely not made while drunk.
Seriously? He’s one of the most clutch players of this generation.
I think that comment was hilarious. Harper is clutch but Phillies Phans have every right to be angry when you lose 2 games at home.
Harper for Alonso, right now, lets do it.
Harper so clutch! World Series game 6 0-4 2K , 2023 nlcs game 6 & 7 0-7 3K, cmon he’s good but clutch ? Pfft
It is hard to judge post season numbers as you are facing the hottest / best pitchers in the game in post season. Most of the time in post season the other team pitches around the super stars like Harper. Why a team has to have either non superstar come through or the batters in front of Harper get in base so that the teams are face to pitch to him.
Why if you look at past most league championship and World Series mvps are usually lesser known less star caliber players.
That’s a great small sample size.
Two players in the history of Major League Baseball have hit 15 home runs in fewer than 50 postseason games, those two being Babe Ruth and Bryce Harper.
Bryce carries the Phillies on his back 50% of the time, and the other 25 guys are responsible for the other 50%. You will not find a single non-fair weather Phillies fan who will point a single finger at Bryce Harper as a cause for any problems the team ever faces. From taking a ridiculously below market AAV contact to coming back in less than 6 months from TJ surgery, the guy has been nothing short of the perfect teammate in Philly.
Harper is thrown less strikes than almost anyone else in the majors. When the other Phillies start slumping, Harper is thrown pure junk. That’s why it’s so important for the supporting cast to hit, which they did until Game 3 of the NCLS. Hitters get cold. Harper still has some of the best postseason numbers of all time. It’s hard not to call him clutch. Also much respect to Houston and Arizona’s pitching. You can’t ignore them.
If the opposition only has to focus on getting 2-3 guys out, and you have 2 locked outs (Rojas, Castellanos), to start with, you’re not going to be successful.
Exactly. The entire lineup hot cold. Sometimes the entire lineup is on fire. It’s the story of the 23 Phillies. Sometimes they look like the best team in baseball. Sometimes they can’t buy a hit. When I saw those at bats in game 3 of the CS, I knew they were in trouble. I was hoping they could fight through the cold spell, but they didn’t. They didn’t play their game. They lost. That’s baseball. Credit to the snakes.
Ham, I mean, Bryce has only pitched one full season for Atlanta. Too soon to call him one of the most clutch players of this generation.
I was not a Bryce Harper fan but I wish he was on my team. He is amazing in the clutch he destroyed the Braves two years in a row. A player can’t be hot and on fire every night why you need the other 8 players to help you out.
The Phillies in general have team that a short series they could be hard to beat but the 7 game series shows some of their flaws. One thing I have never understood about the Phillies was Kyler Schwaber batting lead off with a non contact bat and a non base stealer. He is going hit his home runs but imagine how games could be changed if he hit 3rd; or 4th and did his damage with more with runners on.
Another clueless ‘fan’, I see
njangrybirds just stirring the hate pot. Don’t take the bait.
Never liked McNeil at 3B. Personally think, play Mauricio at 3B, move Baty to LF (he got plenty of reps there in AAA), and leave McNeil at 2B until Acuña is eventually called up.
I do agree with the plan. But…..
Baty’s only He played only 2 games in LF at triple-A, and only 36 games there in total. So nothing he’s done there constitutes ‘plenty of reps’. He did play 27 games there in AA.
That said, Baty’s bat still belongs in triple-A anyway, IMO. Send him there, and let him play left for about two months until both bat and glove are ready.
Leave McNeil at ‘utility’ he’s best served as an above average LF/RF/2B .
Oh Gawd…3B has been the black hole for the Mets for 50+ years,save for David Wright. Baty looked underwhelming both in the field and at bat. Mauricio has NO business being at third. He looked terrible the few games that I saw him there; looked like he had no idea how to position himself at the hot corner.
Wayne Garrett, Hubie Brooks, Ray Knight, Howard Johnson, and Robin Ventura were a lot better than black holes.
Yeah, Hojo and Ventura, I’ll agree.
And they won a pennant with Garrett, 90 games with Brooks before trading him for Carter, and a World Series with Knight as MVP.
What do you have against them?
If the Mets FO had faith in Garrett, they wouldn’t have given Amos Otis away for Joe Foy. Terrible trade. Hubie and Knight were both slightly above league average at best their last year with the Mets.
But they might not have won in ‘86 without Knight.
And not only could Garrett have prevented the Otis-Foy fiasco, but also the Nolan Ryan-Jim Fregosi disaster.
Edgardo Alfonzo?
He played some third, but he was more a second baseman.
Yup, but he was on the short list of talented 3B (as well as other lists)
Wayne Garrett. Comon’. Hubie was really a SS when he came up, and Knight was only for so long. Wright, Hojo, Ventura (for the time he was there). Anyone else is a blur.
As for Baty, they need to give the kid time – it’s NY and he’s young. Mauricio belongs at 2B and McNeil needs to be a super utility at best.
Garrett held his own well enough for them to take Oakland to the seventh game in ‘73.
HoJo was the $#!t. Especially his ’89 All-Star season as the primary 3B (140+games). That’s not to take away from 91 when he led the NL in HR and RBI.
This has me thinking he was vastly underrated. Though I guess his Defense was pretty suspect.
Also, I think Baty has a pretty sweet swing. He likely has some adjustments to make, but I think they would be foolish to be impatient with him.
Agreed.
Baty probably leaves and becomes a star for another team. Very hard to be good in New York with all the media and fans breaking every game down
Patience works both ways. While it does entail not giving up on him this early, it may also entail not rushing him. Where was the patience last March when fans were screaming about him being sent down at the end of spring training? Even though Baty looked horrible the last two weeks of ST?
These younger players now spend lots of their winter in the team complex now working on things, and he may learn something before next year.
But be honest and fair: the Baty we saw last year was not a major league hitter, and an even worse fielder. Moreover, he showed absolutely zero improvement at the major league level as time went on. If you’re honest about being patient, then patience calls for sending him back to triple-A for two months or so.
Three 30-30 seasons when that was a rarity.
Mauricio was atrocious at 2nd when they first moved him there in AAA. It took him about a few months to work up to competence, but he got there. No reason he can’t do the same thing at 3rd.
Baty’s been playing 3rd his entire pro career and still looks bad. So bad that I wonder why they never moved him off from that position. Moreover, his arm is barely adequate for the position.
Baty’s strong arm is his best attribute so far. Do you watch or look at boxscores?
Luisangel Acuña did not look like an everyday major league player with Binghamton. Once you get over his Last name, you see a guy who swings off balance every time, soft exit velocity, no plate discipline and an inability to pull the ball at all.
Agreed. NO plate discipline. Speedy as hell when he does get on base, but man, what a free swinger!
You are speaking of a 37 game sample size on Mets AA team. He looked much better in his 84 games for Rangers AA team. So for all we know Mets could have been having him try some adjustments. That is often part of the development process.
I don’t know I am looking at Acuna numbers and it appears that he is going hit .280-.300 batting average with a 20 home run maybe / 30 steals out of the infield position. Those are pretty good numbers and a lot more production from current Mets infield. His other big thing is he is going work in the seasons you his brother and his brothers teammates would should help him develop more and move. He is only 21 years old a long way to develop
You project that from him because of who his brother is.
I project him based on his numbers in the minor leagues. I think the Mets stole him from the rangers for Scherzer
How does one project minor league numbers to major league numbers?
It’s done every day. It’s called scouting and analytics.
Yeah, exactly. Not just looking at minor league numbers and subtracting a little.
The Long Island loudmouths need to show patience and let these young NYM players with real potential grow. The trying to duct tape everything with FAs has worked out to how many post seasons in the past 30 years? Fortunately David Stearns and not Joey Buttafuoco are making the decisions. Same is true for NYY who are at a similar crossroads and let the lunatics at sports radio troll them into panic deals
Wrong island, bro! I’m from CONEY Island, not Long Island!
Coney Island is part of Long Island though.
Uh,no it’s not!
I’d like to see Harper work on pitching in 2024.
I saw Harper play first base, both on TV a handful of times, in person, and during the playoffs this year. For a guy who just started to play it at the pro level at this point of his career, he could definitely stick there long term, if that’s the route the Phils and Harp go. He made a few blunders, but most were brain farts that were only there because of inexperience.
If his throwing arm has recovered, he’d be a waste at 1B.
True, but when he starts to get older, slows down, etc. he’ll definitley fit in at first base. I don’t think the Phillies should give-up on Harper at 1B indefinitley, or at least until he gets older. Why not use him like the Dodgers did with Betts at 2B? Let him start at 1B once or twice a week, assuming the Phillies don’t resign Hoskins, or acquire another guy who can play 1B regularly.
Harper at 1B Casty in RF Marsh in LF and Fat Gallo as DH
Harper is the greatest clutch hitter in the game today. No team should pitch to him when the game is on the line. They should just walk him and take their chances. He means too much to the Phils to be playing him at first base. His recent collision with Olson could have turned out a lot worse than it did, and should have been a wake-up call for Harper and the Phils. Harper was forced into playing first base this season because Schwarber can’t be left alone in the outfield. He was statistically the absolute worst outfielder in MLB in 2023, which is why he was the Phils DH – the only position where the Phils could play him. So, the issue for 2024 isn’t about Harper. It’s all about Schwarber. The Phils will be older in 2024, and guys like Harper, Realmuto. Castellanos, Turner, and Bohm need a day off defensively now and then, without taking the bat out of their hands. So, the Phils cannot commit the DH position exclusively to Schwarber in 2024 when multiple other players need a regular crack at it, and the Phils can’t play Schwarber anywhere in the field. What’s more, the Phils cannot afford to stifle their running game any longer which is what has been happening with Schwarber getting his own way with Thompson and being the lead off hitter. Turner is an automatic stolen base every time he gets on first. He has the potential to have a high on-base percentage every season, which means the Phils could have a base-stealing threat in scoring position early in most games. Schwarber had 47 home runs in 2023, but consider that next to his .197 batting average and 215 strike outs. What championship team ever had a lead off hitter with a .197 batting average and 215 strikeouts? Answer: None. If the Phils are smart, they’ll trade Schwarber for pitching or prospects to a team that needs a home run hitter. The $19 million the Phils will save could be used to resign Hoskins. the Phils don’t need Schwarber to win a championship. His value to the Phils has been long overrated. He hits a lot of home runs, but not that many in clutch situations nor in games that need his run production to win. If the Phils don’t add Hoskins and don’t trade Schwarber this off-season, they’ll be an also ran once more in 2024. This will be especially true if they allow Harper to play first base and get injured.
@on the bucks
In isolation, no, you don’t want your lead off guy hitting .197. But in isolation do you want your lead off hitter hitting more total bases than Arraez who hit .354.
Do you want Schwarber’s 104 RBIs against Arraez’s 69?
They are both really extreme comparisons, but I think the Phillies have smashed Schwarber into the only available square hole they have. Essentially one time in five he’ll hit, and one time in twelve it leaves the park…
Agree with you on Harper. I thought it was mad to risk him at 1B with the likes of a Tellez or Vogelbach thundering down the line at him. Harper being Harper was remarkably good defensively. But I’d prefer him at RF and relatively protected there.
So I’ve made no point whatsoever! Schwarber has two more years on his contract & given that DH is a luxury, I don’t see a lot of teams out there trading for an absolute non-fielder.
Essentially, love him or loathe his TTO, I think the Phillies are stuck with him…
A’s fan, Your point is well taken, but the difference between Arraez and Schwarber is Arraez hits in clucth situations whereas Schwarber usually doesn’t unless its against inferior pitching. Schwarber can hit the ball a long way but, if you watch his homers, most of them are off meatballs that hang over the middle of the plate. He’s much less effective against good pitching. Throw him a high fast ball at the top of the strike zone or fast balls on the low corners, and he’s finished. Even when Schwarber does get on base, he slows down the Phils running game. Turner can’t steal a base with Scjwarber in front of him. There’s talk about the Phils trading Castellanos for pitching. That would be a huge mistake. Castellanos has a very good year at the plate and a very good year defensively. He was the only regular outfielder in the majors in 2023 who didn’t have an error. He’s also got a cannon for an arm. Schwarber’s the one who has to be traded for pitching and, with 47 homers this year, some team will trade for him. If the Phils are smart, they’ll make the trade.
I hope the Phillies re-sign Hoskins. The 30 HR 85-100 RBIs was sorely missed this year. We had a clown car playing 1B until Harper was able to play there. But I prefer Harper in RF.
With Hoskins back, how many pitchers would want to face this line up?
C Realmuto
1B Hoskins
2B Stott
SS Turner
3B Bohm
LF Castellanos
RF Harper
CF Marsh vs. RHP
Rojas* vs. LHP
* If Rojas needs 250-300 ABs at AAA, then Pache vs. LHP works for me. Pache is also a great defender, and at this stage, maybe more of an offensive threat than Rojas who looked awful in the playoffs.
Few players have won-me-over more than Bryce Harper. Guy is a competitor and I admire his grit. Hope he gets a World Series ring one day.
I used to say Bryce Harper was over rated. He literally has become the best hitter in the sport every post season. He actually is very under rated now.
I don’t think Marsh is gonna be platooning anymore.
If Philly wants to go all bat-no glove route, Teoscar is the guy. Figure they’re going after a SP.
Mauricio, meanwhile, also struggled at the plate (.248/.296/.347 in 108 plate appearances) and is widely regarded as having a lower offensive ceiling than Baty, but brings quality defense and baserunning to the table when compared to Baty’s defensive miscues at the position.
What a mouthful. First off, “meanwhile” should not come in the middle of a sentence. It needs to be at the start, and at the start only.
Second, split the dang sentence. Put a period after “Baty” instead of a comma, then say “however, he brings quality defense…”
This Deeds guy stinks.